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Introduction and objectives: Asthma is estimated to affect at least 300 million people globally. About 25% of the patients do not respond to therapy; therefore we need to develop novel treatments. ASM cells have a crucial role in asthma, contributing to airway remodelling, inflammation and airflow obstruction. We have previously shown that epigenetic histone modifications, particularly histone lysine acetylation and methylation regulate the secretion of inflammatory mediators from ASM cells. Here we tested the hypothesis that histone arginine changes are also involved. Protein arginine N-methyltransferases (PRMTs) are the enzymes which catalyse histone arginine methylation (HRme, the addition of a methyl group to arginine residues on the N-terminal tails of histones), and inhibiting them represents a strategy to reduce the secretion of inflammatory mediators from ASM cells.Methods: Studies were performed in cultured human ASM cells from asthmatic and non-asthmatic donors at passage 6. PRMT expression in human ASM cells was investigated by qPCR. Protein levels of four PRMTs in human ASM cells were investigated by western blotting. As PMRT1 has previously been suggested to play a role in mouse asthma models, we studied the association of PRMT1 with eotaxin, IL-6, IP-10 and CXCL8 promoters in healthy ASM cells, under basal conditions and following stimulation with TNF-? (1ng/ml), by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). IgG was used as a negative control, while acetylated histone H4 (AcH4) was used as a positive control.Results: We found that ASM cells express the PRMT1, PRMT2, PRMT3, CARM1, PRMT5, PRMT6, PRMT7 and FBX011 mRNA and PRMT1, CARM1, PRMT5, and PRMT6 protein. The analysis showed no difference in the levels of expression between cells isolated from asthmatic and non-asthmatic donors.Under basal conditions, PRMT1 was associated with all of the promoters and association increased following 1 hour stimulation with TNF-?. Conclusions: ASM cells express a number of PRMTs at mRNA and protein levels. PRMT1 associates with a number of chemokine and cytokine promoters after TNF-? stimulation. PRMTs may have an important role in regulating chemokine production from ASM cells in asthma, and are a promising target for future investigations in asthma.

NAADP has been shown to be a potent calcium-releasing second messenger in a wide variety of cell types to date. However, research has been hampered by a lack of pharmacological agents, with which to investigate NAADP-induced calcium release, and by the molecular identity of its cellular target protein being unknown. In the present paper, the sea urchin egg model was used to investigate whether triazine dyes, which can act as nucleotide mimetics, can bind to the NAADP receptor, induce Ca(2+) release and be used for affinity chromatography of the receptor. Indeed, all the triazine dyes tested (Reactive Red 120 (RR120), Reactive Green 19 (RG19), Reactive Green 5 (RG5), Cibacron Blue 3GA and Reactive Yellow 86) displayed micromolar affinities, except for Reactive Orange 14. Furthermore, unlike NAADP, RR120, RG19 and RG5 did not bind in an irreversible manner. The compound that displayed the highest affinity, RR120, was tested in a (45)Ca(2+) efflux assay. This compound released Ca(2+) via the NAADP receptor, as shown by the ability of subthreshold NAADP concentrations to inhibit this release. Furthermore, heparin and ruthenium red were unable to block RR120-induced Ca(2+) release. We have also shown that RG5 and RG19, immobilised on resins, retain the ability to bind to the receptor, and that this interaction can be disrupted by high salt concentrations. As a proof of principle, we have shown that this can be used to partially purify the NAADP receptor by at least 75-fold. In conclusion, triazine dyes interact with the NAADP receptor, and this could be exploited in future to create a new generation of pharmacological tools to investigate this messenger and, in combination with other techniques, to purify the receptor.

A prospective study was conducted to investigate the possible complications associated with intra- and peri-articular steroid injections. Data are presented on 1147 injections performed on 672 patients out of a total of 688 consecutive patients attending an orthopaedic outpatient setting. It was found to be a safe procedure, with a very low complication rate, if performed while taking adequate precautions. This should encourage general practitioners to offer these injections in their surgeries.